1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to latches for securing doors and in particular to a child proof gate lock for chain link fences.
2. Description of Related Art
Chain link fences are made of a support frame of pipe. The frame supports a mesh of thick metal wire which forms a screen. The screen is held to the frame by pieces of wire surrounding the frame work at fixed intervals. To provide a gate in an opening of a chain line fence, a pipe work frame the size of the opening is hinged to one side of the opening. An oarlock is hingeably attached to the opposite side of the gate frame. When the gate is in the closed position, the oarlock is moved to a horizontal position where it receives a pole of the fence in a U-shaped portion.
Locking the gate requires that openings be provided in the oar lock and the collar holding the oar lock. When the oar lock is in the closed position, the openings line up and a padlock is passed through the openings to hold them in their aligned position. With the lock in place, the oar lock cannot be moved from its horizontal locking position to its vertical open position. Thus the gate is locked.
The drawbacks of the padlock method include difficulty in operation and the potential to lose or misplace the lock. This loss occurs frequently because the padlock has to be removed from the gate to complete the locking and unlocking operation. In order to complete the unlocking two hands must be used. One hand to hold and steady the lock, while the other hand is inserting the key to open the lock.